Eating Manners of Farm Women - Tsuchiura, circa 1926

The Japanese character for "to eat" 食 has two readings. The first that students of Japanese learn is "taberu" (食べる), which carries connotations that most people associated with eating: sitting at a table with family and friends to consume a meal. The other reading "kuu" (食う) treats the act as a bodily function with no graces. This distinction separated farm women from town women.


From: "Life in the Sewing School (お裁縫所の暮らし)," told by Oshima Mitsu, born 1906

Rice, Pawn Shops & Day Laborers - Tsuchiura, circa 1920-1925

When it rained, there would be no work - and no rice. After a day of rain, maybe day laborers would pawn something. More days of rain meant no rice: they would run out of things to pawn. Some families would subsist on barley alone.


From "Tenements (不動長屋)," told by Terauchi Ryutaro, born in 1905

Bathing the Neighborhood - Tsuchiura, circa 1915

Tatsutamachi in Tsuchiura is is a neighborhood once surrounded by rivers and canals. In 1915, it was a cluster of thatched tenements bordered on its west side by a middle school for women.

From "Mystery in Tatsuta (立田の怪)," told by Ishido Yoshio, born in 1905